The prior art is already aware of various forms of vises for holding work pieces. These commonly consist of movable jaws which can clamp the work piece when one jaw is moved toward the other, such as by means of a screw or the like. Further, the prior art is aware of vises which have arrangements for urging the movable jaw into a position of exerting optimum force against the work piece, such that the jaw will not tip or tilt away from the work piece, for instance. However, in these prior art vises, the structures are complicated in that they require a number of moving parts for effecting the actions mentioned, and they still do not fully perform the function of providing a movable block or jaw which will not deviate from its path of movement when the jaw is forcing against a work piece, for instance. In those regards, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,880,638 and 3,232,602 and 3,397,880 are examples of the prior art. However, the aforesaid disclosures differ from the present invention in the respects mentioned and in the respect that the present invention provides a movable jaw which is urged into stable contact with a base member when the jaw is clamping onto a work piece, and thus the work piece is securely and steadily held. In accomplishing this objective, a minimum of parts are employed and they all cooperate to serve the purpose of forcing the movable block or jaw against the work piece in a secure manner.
Another object of this invention, and a distinction over the arts cited, is that the movable jaw or block of this invention is of a narrower width than the width of the base piece upon which the jaw is supported, and thus the entire vise can be placed in a clamped position by another holding member and the movable jaw or block will still be free to move since it has the side clearance mentioned. This permits the vise of this invention to be placed in a holder or other clamp and to be retained in a specified or selected attitude or angle while the movable jaw can be moved toward and away from the work piece so that it can be employed for opening and closing and thereby holding various work pieces in succession while the entire vise is still in its set and clamped position.
The aforementioned features, and the differentiation with respect to the prior art mentioned, will be even more apparent upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings.